The Intelligence
by The ilIuminati
Summary: Shepard has passed and now the crew of the Normandy are going to have to rebuild and carry on without him. But his love Liara T'soni does not move on so easily. But something watches over the crew and especially Liara. This is a tale of commitment and sadness. The M rating is for later stuff.
1. Chapter 1

The Intelligence

A Mass Effect 3 story

Chapter one: Aftermath

"_All fleets the Crucible is armed, disengage and head to the rendezvous point."_

_The Normandy circled the Citadel, Joker ignoring Hackett's command. He couldn't leave the Commander behind, not now._

"_I repeat: disengage and get the hell out of here."_

_Joker still did not listen, then someone put a hand on his shoulder. "Joker listen…we have to go." said Garrus._

"_Damn it." said Joker hoarsely._

_The Normandy turned and jumped to FTL. A blue sphere blasted out of the Citadel and slowly enveloped Earth. All Reapers hit by the blast remained still for a few minutes, blue energy flickering across their bodies like electricity. Then one by one, they took to the sky and were gone. The cries and shouts of triumph and relief were soon cushioned by the vacuum of space. A beam shot from the Crucible and into the Sol Relay. The Relay span rapidly and then shot the beam onward to other Relays. With each Relay hit, the Reapers left. City by city and planet by planet they left. The beam was catching up with the Normandy. Joker was having no problem keeping the Normandy distant from it though. Then a planet approached them and there was no avoiding the inevitable crash._

Liara gasped awake. She was sweating and quickly looking about her surroundings. She was relieved to find that she was in the temporary cabin that had been placed outside the crashed Normandy for her. "Another dream about the battle." She thought. Three days had passed since that fateful day. She had been having the dream ever since they had landed on the planet. Every time she had that dream she began to think of Shepard. A single tear rolled down her cheek, she couldn't handle the sadness of losing her love. Earths greatest and wisest leader had sacrificed his life so that the galaxy could live. She missed him so much, all those years they spent together.

Liara wasn't the only person mourning Shepard. The whole crew had shut themselves away to mourn the commander. Even Javik, a ruthless Prothean soldier, hadn't said a word for the past three days. Next to Liara, Joker and Garrus had been the most affected. He had been their best friend who always put others before himself. A selfless Commander and a very rare soul. Never once did he say he couldn't do a mission, never once had he put himself before others. But everyone knew the relationship Liara had with Shepard, and knew that she was heartbroken and the most affected.

They had sent out a distress signal to any Alliance ships in the system and were waiting for them to bring repair materials. Traynor was the only one out of the group that was monitoring the QEC so that the Alliance ships could find them.

Liara looked at the picture of Shepard she had on her bedside desk. The more she looked, the more she cried. Suddenly there came a beep at the door. Liara wiped the tears off her face, "Come in."

The doors light flashed and Traynor walked in. "Sorry to disturb you Dr T'soni, but Admiral Hackett ship is in orbit. He is coming down as well as bringing supplies and he would like all of the crew to meet him." She said.

"Thank you Traynor. I'll….I'll be out in a minute."

"Please don't rush Dr T'soni." Traynor said with understanding.

She turned and walked out of the door. Liara sat in thought. They never did find out what had happened to the Reapers, she wanted to find out. She had prayed every night that Shepard had not died in vain. She slowly walked out of the cabin and into the sunlight. They were all camped outside the Normandy in a clearing. The rest of the crew had also come out of their temporary cabins and were looking up at the sky. They didn't say a word to each other. Liara walked over and stood next to Garrus. He gave her a small smile, which she returned, but it still wasn't going to make her feel any better. Then they saw a Kodiak shuttle flying in towards them. It landed and Admiral Hackett stepped out. He looked at the crew and then at the Normandy. It needed serious work and repairs, the hull was buckled inwards and there were chunks of the Normandy had been ripped off. He turned back to the crew, "Is everyone okay?" He asked.

They all nodded slowly but didn't say a word. Hackett knew perfectly well why. He had some explaining to do.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two: The news

The crew of the Normandy listened to Hackett's report on what had happened after the crucible fired. Apparently the Reapers had stopped attacking all organic creatures and left all the planets. They had taken the Citadel back to the nebula and are currently mending the damaged Relays. "So what they aren't going to wipe out the galaxy?" Ashley asked.

"We aren't completely sure but from their behaviour they seem to want to help us." Hackett replied.

"The Crucible defiantly did something to them, but are you sure we can let our guard just yet? I still don't trust them and unless we have heavy proof that they will never harm us again, I never will." Said Garrus.

"Same here." James agreed.

"No, we shall not let our guard down. Our ships will remain near the Relays while the Reapers are repairing it to monitor their behaviour." Hackett answered.

The Liara spoke, "What happened to….Shepard?"

The whole group went silent. Hackett lowered his head. "We….we went to the Citadel to search for survivors. We found…..Admiral Anderson and The illusive Man….they were dead." Hackett said slowly, "The illusive Man had been heavily indoctrinated judging by the implants he had in him. He had shot Anderson, and then…shot himself. We are certain Shepard tried to talk sense into him, but he couldn't fight it and then shot himself."

The group wanted to say good riddance to The illusive Man but couldn't bring themselves to do it. "We then found the heart of the Citadel, and found Shepard's pistol. But we never found his body."

Liara sprang up to her feet, "So Shepard could be alive?" she asked full of hope.

Admiral Hackett looked at her sadly, "We didn't find the body, but we found ash beside the gun. We did tests on it and the ash has Shepard's DNA. We think…we think that when the Crucible fired, it vaporized Shepard."

He said the last part with great difficulty. He looked away from Liara's eyes. The crew went completely silent. Garrus got up and walked away quickly, not looking at anyone. Everyone did the same. Liara walked into her cabin and locked it. She cast herself on the bed and wept. Admiral Hackett turned to his engineers, "Fix the ship. I want in top condition and no mistakes!" he said through a crooked voice.

Liara wept for hours. A small glimmer of hope inside her had been crushed by what Hackett had told the group. She couldn't believe it, she didn't want to believe it. But it was true, Shepard was dead and there was no way of bringing him back.

Another day rolled by and everyone was still broken. Hackett's engineers knew better than to disturb the crew at this time but they needed Traynor and Liara to sort out some damage done EDI on the landing. They requested Traynor to go and see if Liara was in a good condition to help. Liara wanted nothing more than to stay in and mourn Shepard for days to come, but she decided to help as it would be a distraction at least a small one. "Glyph?" Liara called.

"Yes Dr T'soni?"

"Could tell engineer Adams to restart the drive core for me. I have just mended it."

"Of course Dr T'soni."

Glyph zoomed off. Liara walked into her cabin on the Normandy. Thankfully it hadn't been heavily damaged in the landing but a few tables were overturned and two monitors had fallen of the arms. Liara set about tidying up. A call came at her Omni-tool, she answered. "Hello Liara." Came Ashley's voice.

"Hello Ashley. Can I help you with something?"

There was a slight pause. "No I was wondering if you are okay? I mean I could help you clean up the Normandy if you want."

"No thank you Ashley I can handle it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'll be fine."

"Liara if you need anyone to talk to I-

"I'll come to you Ashley. Thank you."

"Alright but take it easy okay."

Liara couldn't help smile a little, the crew always were supportive to eachother. That was Shepard's work. He always made sure that we could come to him if we had problems. Then Liara felt a sharp pain in her stomach, she rushed to her bathroom and locked the door. She looked at herself in the mirror, she felt like she was going to vomit. "What is this?" she thought, "Asari don't feel vomit. We have a perfect defence system. How can I feel this way?" she froze, "Un-unless I-I…."

Her train of thought we interrupted when she heard Glyph enter the cabin. "Dr T'soni? Engineer Adams says to give you his gratitude. Dr T'soni?"

"In here Glyph." Liara said roughly.

Glyph entered the bathroom. "Is everyone okay Dr T'soni?"

Liara turned to him, "Glyph scan me for unusual readings." She ordered.

Glyph scanned her up and down a few times. He finished his scanning and looked at her, "Why Dr T'soni. I believe your pregnant."


End file.
